Sweatshops Violations

Consumers have an ethical responsibility to boycott sweatshops. A sweatshop is a factory that has very poor working conditions and pays low wages. The workers are exploited by the sweatshops, who then tell them that they are lucky to be abused this way. The conditions in sweatshops are terrible and dangerous, injuring and sometimes killing workers. Sweatshops might pay the workers, but not enough to live on. Sweatshops’ actions warrant a boycott for their abuses of human rights.

Sweatshops exploit their workers. This is a fact that even those in favor of sweatshops cannot deny. Some workers work over 12 hours a day and get paid less than $3. The workers are not fairly compensated for the amount of time they work, nor for the hard physical labor they are doing. The workers have nowhere else to turn, and so let themselves be taken advantage of. Workers can be beaten when they make mistakes, as a worker said in the article “Sweatshop Campaigners Demand Gap Boycott”. “A Bangladeshi worker employed at a Gap factory …show more content…
Aside from the threat of being beaten, the factory itself can hurt the workers just as much as the managers. In the story about Anh, a teen girl who works in a sweatshop, it mentions the air is clouded with dust, and that the dust could explode if any of the machines sparked. Besides the damage that the factory can do in a short amount of time, there are long-term problems too. The article “Sweatshop Campaigners Demand Gap Boycott” mentioned workers becoming seriously ill as a result of working in Gap factories. The materials worked with are also dangerous. Another article, “Governments Should Not Boycott Sweatshop Products”, mentions the use of toxic chemicals without safety goggles or gloves. In sweatshops, proper ventilation and safety equipment are a rarity. The conditions can be fatal, and the already dreadfully treated workers are not able to feel and be safe in their